Shuttle diplomacy: Politicians who loved badminton

Badminton might be a less glamorous game compared to its sibling tennis, but it has often received support from unexpected quarters. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recently plugged the benefits of the sport in a much-publicised video, where he was shown playing with his political mentor Vladimir Putin. Although unkind critics stated he should be taking his official responsibilities more seriously instead of hitting a ‘bird’ with Putin, the sport is likely to catch public attention in Russia. The government has already announced a schools programme, and soldiers in the army are being trained in the sport, apparently to help develop their fitness and reflexes.

Freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose

Among the greatest Indian names to have a fancy for badminton was Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, who took up the game in Malaya. Bose, having landed in the Far East from Germany, played the game whenever he had some time away from plotting his military campaigns. It would be interesting to know if he had seen the legendary All England champion, Wong Peng Soon, in action. Bose’s biographer Hugh Toye writes that Bose had three weaknesses – coffee, cigarettes and badminton.

Prison term rekindles Raja's love for badminton

At the opposite end of the moral spectrum, the arrested former Telecom minister, A Raja, spends some time playing badminton in Tihar Jail. Raja told the press that he had started playing badminton after over a decade. “After returning from the trial court, I play badminton with jail officials,” he told The Telegraph recently. “Besides, I go for morning walk daily for an hour before being taken to the court. It’s a good way of staying fit.” Raja is no neo-convert to the game, for his love for it goes back a long way. “I played badminton regularly till 1998. But after becoming a minister in the Vajpayee-led NDA government in 1999, I stopped playing. I had no time as I got involved in politics after that. It is only after coming to Tihar that I started playing again after 12 years,” Raja said.

Former president of India A.P.J Abdul Kalam

Among those of his political contemporaries who love the game are MA Baby, former Education Minister of Kerala and Central Committee member of the CPM; S Bangarappa, former CM of Karnataka; his son, the actor-politician Kumar Bangarappa; Indian president Prathibha Patil and her predecessor Abdul Kalam; the Scindhia family of Gwalior (the late Madhavrao and his son Jyotiraditya), and former Parliamentarian Gayatri Devi, once considered the most beautiful woman in the world, who served as president of the Badminton Association of India. Gayatri Devi even played an impromptu mixed doubles match with Indian international Gajanan Hemmady at a tournament in Jaipur.

Other royals across the world who had a weakness for the game were King Gustav V of Sweden, Thai princess Sirivannavari Nariratana, who has even represented her country in the Asian Games and won a gold in the team event of the South East Asian Games; the Sultan of Brunei, who had hired an Indian coach for one of his sons, and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, who recently played an exhibition game with Peter Gade and Nguyen Tien Minh in Vietnam.

Karnataka’s ex-Chief Minister S Bangarappa was passionate about the game and was a supporter of badminton in Karnataka. Bangarappa was instrumental in helping the Karnataka Badminton Association secure its land for a 10-court facility in the heart of the city, and it was for long the best badminton facility in India. Bangarappa played the game whenever he could, and would seek out courts when he was travelling.

It also emerged recently that Karnataka governor HR Bharadwaj was a shuttler in his youth, and had even installed a court at his home, where he and legal luminary Ram Jethmalani would enjoy a game or two.